AfriForum demands answers about Afrikaans TV news from SABC with PAIA request

AfriForum has just made a formal request to the SABC in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (also known as PAIA) to demand answers about the future of Afrikaans TV news broadcasts. This follows after a letter addressed to the Chairperson, CEO and management of the SABC regarding the reason why the Afrikaans TV news bulletin on Saturday 5 April was not broadcasted at 18:15 as usual, went unanswered. The SABC did issue a media statement yesterday to explain that the omission of the weekend’s news bulletins was a scheduling error and that the future of Afrikaans TV news is certain.

According to Alana Bailey, AfriForum’s Head of Cultural Affairs, the statement does not reassure viewers and continues to raise concerns about the future broadcasts of Afrikaans TV news bulletins by the public broadcaster. “If last week’s omission was a mere oversight, the SABC could have disclosed this fact publicly and in response to all enquiries a long time ago. Now it gives the impression that aftercare has been applied following the angry reaction of viewers and organisations such as AfriForum,” she says.

Bailey emphasises that it is the duty of the public broadcaster to ensure that speakers of all official languages ​​in the country have access to news. This includes via all news media – especially radio and TV.

“AfriForum wants to get to the bottom of this before deciding on further action. We are therefore asking in-depth questions in the PAIA request about matters such as viewership numbers before and after the August 2024 channel and time slot shifts, as well as advertising revenue that Afrikaans TV news bulletins generated then and are receiving now. We also want to know what steps are being taken to prevent future broadcasts from being ‘accidentally omitted’.”

She adds that not only Afrikaans speakers, but also speakers of other, smaller language groups in the country have long been dissatisfied with news bulletins that are broadcasted at inconvenient times and times that change. For many people, the SABC provides the only TV news service they have access to.

AfriForum will represent the interests of Afrikaans viewers, but also of any other language community in the country who wants to insist on more fair treatment to gain access to news in their own language.